1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to streaming multimedia data. More specifically, the present invention concerns managing the real-time distribution of a live data stream such as a live video data stream from a computing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Examinations are used to determine the ability of an exam taker such as a student or prospective practitioner as it pertains to proficiency in a particular subject or skill set. For example, a student might take an exam to determine whether the student possesses requisite knowledge in a particular subject that might be related to receiving a degree or certificate. A prospective practitioner of law or medicine similarly might sit for an examination to determine their competence as it pertains to practicing in that profession.
Students or prospective practitioners have historically gathered at the designated locale for an examination on a proscribed date and time. Examination materials are then handed out by a testing authority and the exam begins. During the allotted time, the exam takers read questions and provide answers on a provided answer sheet or in a ‘blue book.’ Throughout the course of examination, a teacher or proctor keeps careful watch over the exam takers to ensure that no instances of cheating are taking place. While a single proctor may be able to observe a small group of exam takers, such observation becomes more difficult for a larger exam taking pool or for a group of exam takers utilizing laptop computers or other computing devices.
The increased popularity of distance learning has also complicated proctoring of examinations. The distance learning instructional model delivers education material and information to students who are not physically ‘on site’ at an education facility. Distance learning provides access to learning opportunities when the source of the information and the student are separated by time or distance if not both. Thousands of distance learners may be involved in a particular distance learning program or course at any given time.
Distance learning is no different than any other educational program in that there is a need to verify the qualifications of students through examination. Because distance learners are not collectively gathered at a physical learning institution such as a university, the distance learning program often requires that the students attend an examination center—which defeats a purpose of distance learning—or administers an examination online. An online examination is difficult to proctor as an exam taker could be taking an examination in one window of a web browser while looking up answers in another window via the Internet. An exam taker could also utilize a ‘chat’ or ‘messaging’ application to relay questions to and receive answers from a knowledgeable third-party. The value of online examinations is, therefore, questionable and calls into question the overall value of the corresponding class or degree program.
Techniques for remotely monitoring the visual and/or audio environment surrounding the exam taker, through the use of an environment capture device such as a video camera or other capture device, are disclosed in commonly-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/723,666, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In order to ensure the integrity of the exam process, the real-time audio and/or video data streams of the testing environment can be provided over a network to a remote proctor who is responsible for remotely observing the administration of the exam.
Uploading the data stream and subsequently providing it in real-time to a remote proctor is challenging for a number of reasons including high bit rates, delay, and loss sensitivity. In particular, the data stream is vulnerable to upload restrictions and/or disruptions along the ‘first mile’ from the test taker's computing device into the network, which can cause packet loss and delay of data in the data stream. This can be due to physical upload bandwidth limitations through the use of dial-up modems, or other upload restrictions such as network service provider limitations. As a result, the so-called ‘first mile’ can become a bottleneck, which can render further downstream techniques ineffective, since these downstream techniques cannot improve the bit rate and stream integrity of the initially uploaded data stream.
Similarly, the data stream is vulnerable to download restrictions and/or disruptions along the ‘last mile’ from the network to the remote proctor's computing device. As a result, the so-called ‘last mile’ can also become a bottleneck, which can render the previous upstream techniques for improving the bit rate and stream integrity ineffective. These download restrictions and disruptions also hamper the observation of the exam taker during the administration of the exam, which may call into question the integrity of the exam process.
There is a need in the art for managing the distribution of a data stream, which addresses first mile and last mile vulnerability issues. There is a similar need for improved remote proctoring of large scale examinations such that a small number of proctors can properly maintain the integrity of the testing environment, notwithstanding the large number of exam takers.